1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted apparatus installed on a vehicle in a dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) system of an intelligent transport system (ITS), and more particularly, it relates to a vehicle-mounted apparatus of a dedicated short-range communications system which is capable of efficiently informing its user of information on an account or a discount.
2. Description of the Related Art
A dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) systems is widely used to perform communications only within a limited range on a road by using radio waves of the microwave band. Such a DSRC system is an effective system in which radio communications are carried out between a ground device arranged on a road and a vehicle-mounted or on-vehicle device installed on a vehicle, whereby various services such as toll collection, traffic and road information services, etc., can be provided by mutually transferring various types of data between the ground device and the on-vehicle devices, thus benefiting not only drivers but also administrators of roads, parking lots and so on.
As systems using DSRC, there have been thought various kinds of applications such as electronic toll collection (ETC) systems in expressways, charge collection systems in gas stations and drive throughs, traffic information services and so on. Among them, it is planned that such a system is used in applying a discount of a road charge or toll to a vehicle passing a specific route, as represented by environmental road pricing, etc., or in other applications in which a limited time discount, a customer discount or the like are applied. In this manner, DSRC systems are planned to be used in managing not only accounting (or billing) but also discounting in DSRC settlements in the future.
A known vehicle-mounted DSRC apparatus is constructed as shown in FIG. 6. As seen from this figure, radio wave data from unillustrated road-side radio equipment is demodulated by a radio communication part 1, and an analysis of the data is performed by a control part 2, so that data is sent from an account instruction part 3 to a display part 4 and an audio part 5, which together constitute an information means, in accordance with the data thus analyzed, thereby informing the user of his or her account information. In addition, there may be a case where when an account or radio communication has been ended normally, a xe2x80x9cbeep soundxe2x80x9d or the like is generated from a buzzer part 6 to inform the user of the account or normal communication. An IC card 7 has account information such as dates and times, places (traffic gates), amounts of money, etc., stored in a built-in memory by means of an unillustrated writing part.
With such a known vehicle-mounted apparatus in a dedicated short-range communications system, however, there is no means for notifying the user of the fact that a discount has been made. In addition, it is impossible to determine only from hearing a buzzer sound whether an amount of toll charged is an account or a discounted one. As a result, there might be users who think an ordinary account has been charged even when they passed a discount toll gate. Accordingly, it is forecast that a great number of inquiries will rush to sales services.
Moreover, in order to know a total sum of tolls for one day or a total sum of tolls spent up to now, it is necessary for one to sum up respective amounts of tolls one by one. Besides, it takes time to calculate highway tolls when a plurality of people go out in a group, etc.
The present invention is intended to solve the problems as referred to above, and has for its object to provide a vehicle-mounted apparatus of a dedicated short-range communications system which is capable of informing its user of a discount in a reliable manner when the discount has been made.
Bearing the above object in mind, the present invention resides in a vehicle-mounted apparatus of a dedicated short-range communications system in an intelligent transport system which is capable of informing an account or a discount to a user. The apparatus includes a radio communication part for communicating with road-side radio equipment, an IC card storing therein a traffic history, a control part for processing data received from the radio communication part, an account instruction part for generating an account instruction based on the data from the control part, a discount instruction part for generating a discount instruction based on the data from the control part, information means in the form of a display part and an audio part for informing an account and a discount to the user based on the account instruction from the account instruction part and the discount instruction from the discount instruction part, and a buzzer part for notifying a condition of passage of a vehicle through a toll gate to the user by performing an account or a discount. According to the present invention, when a charge or toll is discounted, it is possible to inform the user of such a discount without fail, thus enabling the user to confirm the amount of discount in a reliable manner.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.